Las Lajas, Chacon Family, Costa Rica | Natural MUK-7922

Costa Rica may be a small country, but the diversity of its climates and their impact on coffee production have created an industry that truly punches above its weight. The country’s first coffee was cultivated in the Central Valley – a lush, fertile region influenced by Atlantic weather systems – and it is here that Las Lajas coffee is grown by the Chacón family, from whom we’ve been buying since 2017. The family runs six farms, owned by six brothers, covering 73 hectares in total, along with a mill in the town of Sabanilla de Alajuela, on the slopes of the Poás volcano. The mill sits at 1,300 metres above sea level, while the farms lie between 1,450 and 1,500 metres. Producing around 2,000 exportable bags of coffee a year, the mill is owned and operated by Oscar Chacón and his wife Francisca, with support from their four children – the eldest of whom completed the second level of the Q Processing course in 2020. The Chacón farms are run largely on organic principles. While the family once held organic certification, they chose not to renew it, finding it costly, complicated, and offering little added value to their coffee. Nevertheless, organic practices remain central to their philosophy: their production is chemical-free, pulp from the mill is composted and returned to the fields, and their water usage is minimal – just one cubic metre per day. Innovation is at the heart of their approach. Over the years, the family has experimented with numerous varieties and now cultivate Caturra, Red and Yellow Catuai, Paraiso (a cross of Sarchimor and Catuai), Milenio, Villa Sarchi, Geisha, Pacamara, and most recently SL28, planted in 2019. Harvest runs from December to February. Once picked, cherries are floated using Penagos machines before being processed. Their honey-processed coffees are dried on raised beds in the sun, with movement depending on the desired colour: the longer the drying, the darker the honey

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